Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?
by saxygal
Summary: A oneshot in honor of the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Based off of the song by Alan Jackson. AU, no demons.


**I wrote this story as a symbol of remembrance for the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither Inuyasha**** or the song Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)? by Alan Jackson.**

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

_Where were you when the world stopped turnin',_

_that September day?_

~Alan Jackson

She was standing in the kitchen doing the dishes, the TV on CNN in the background, the channel not having been changed since her husband had left for work, when she felt the shaking. Kagome blew it off as a small earthquake; having been born and raised in California, she was used to them. Then the sound of the reporter's voice on the news caught her attention.

"It appears that a commercial plane has crashed into the South Tower of the World Trade Center. We have no official confirmation yet, but folks, I'd say that what my own eyes just saw is confirmation enough."

Kagome gasped and ran to the living room. It couldn't be true! It had to be some horror movie trailer, it just had to be! But no, it wasn't. The replay of the crash played on the screen. The plane flew low and smashed into the side of the building, exploding in a huge fireball.

The tears streamed down her face. Fear and pain clouded her heart. She was just glad that Shippo and Rin were at school and weren't seeing what she was seeing. She still hoped that it wasn't true. She ran to the window of the 6th floor, Manhattan apartment and about fainted when she saw the black smoke billowing out of the tower that was only seven blocks away.

Kagome left the window and sprinted for the phone. Her fingers were shaking as she punched in his number and she had to start over a couple times. Finally she got it and listened to it ring. No answer. She pressed redial and got the same response. She just kept hitting the redial button, her tears turning into full out sobs.

Just as she pushed the button for the tenth time, she saw it happen. Out of the window, she watched it and she fell to her knees.

Another plane had crashed into the North Tower.

~xXx~

Sango sat on the floor of the plane sobbing. She was terrified, along with the other stewards and passengers. To think that this is how she would die, in a hijacked plane getting ready to crash into the World Trade Center. She cried harder as she thought about it.

This was it, her last moments alive. She had always assumed that when she died, it would be in her sleep, curled up in her husband's arms 50 years from now. Not in a plane that would explode in a fireball the moment it crashed.

Out the window, she saw the other tower in the distance. She could see the fire, the black smoke. She closed her eyes and buried her face into her knees. She couldn't look at it, not knowing what was about to happen.

Silently, she spoke her mental apologizes to those she cared about, her husband, her best friend, her little brother. Sango sat still and braced herself for the inevitable, the crash, the explosion, her death.

~xXx~

Kikyo finally managed to crawl out from underneath her desk. Smoke filled the air and bits of plaster rained down from the ceiling. She ran from her office and sprinted down the hall with the throng of people.

They made it outside and she began coughing, the smoke and dust having filled her lungs. She came up from her crouched and bent over position and stared at the building. The plane had struck right next to her office basically. How had she survived? She didn't know, she was just grateful that she had.

The sirens rang out in the distance. The reality of what had just happened hit her and she fell to the ground on her haunches. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. She had survived, but others hadn't. The people on the plane, her comrades in the Pentagon; they were gone, never to walk the Earth again.

It wasn't until later that she found out about the crashes in New York. She had no idea that her brother-in-law's life was in danger. But still, her gut had that sinking feeling. Or maybe it was just the plaster that she had unintentionally breathed in and swallowed.

~xXx~

Rin sat with Shippo, her small 10 year old arms holding his shaking body. Her cousin was frightened. She understood; she was scared too. What it her father had been on one of those planes? She couldn't lose him.

Rin's fifth grade class had been outside on the playground when it happened. They had seen the first plane smash into the tower, had heard the explosion. Some of them had screamed, others had just stared. The class had been ushered inside quickly. Then, a few minutes later, the heard the second plane crash into the other tower. It was at that moment that Rin had begged her teacher to let her go to her second grade cousin's room. She had told her teacher that his dad worked in one of the towers and was probably scared. Her teacher had agreed.

So now, she was sitting in the corner of Shippo's classroom, trying to comfort the seven year old even though she couldn't comfort herself. She was beginning to wish that she could've brought Kohaku with her, and not just because she was scared. She knew that his sister was a flight attendant. What was going through his mind? Probably the same things that were going through hers, in regards to her dad.

Another rumble shook the building and Shippo shook harder at the same time. He whimpered slightly and clutched Rin tighter. She squeezed him tighter, careful not to let him see or feel her tears.

~xXx~

Sesshomaru sat on the plane, reading a book that he had already read a hundred times over. Still, it was a welcome relief from the endless stacks of paperwork that he had been subjected to over the last week. A _ding!_ from above signaled that the seatbelt light had been turned back on. He ignored it, having not moved since takeoff.

Suddenly the plane banked to the right. Sesshomaru glanced at the moving map on the screen in front of him. The plane was flying over Tennessee, the directional line pointing towards New York, but the path of the plane was changing, heading towards Washington D.C. He heard several other passangers wonder at the change in direction. He waited for the pilot to make an announcement about storms or heavy traffic, but one never came. And Sesshomaru had flown enough to know that a sudden change of direction meant that something was going on and that the pilot not making an announcement meant that something was wrong.

One of the attendants came running down the aisle, fear clouding her features. He reached out and stopped her, making sure that his usually stoic face showed comfort so that she wouldn't be afraid of him.

"Can you tell me why we have changed directions? I have a daughter back home that I would very much so like to see."

Her fingers shook as she grasped his hand and knelt down next to him. "It's the plane, it's been hijacked. They're headed for the capitol."

"Hijacked?"

She nodded. "I think they intend to crash the plane, but I don't know where or why." The attendant broke down and began to sob. She released his hand and ran to the attendants' area at the back of the plane. Glancing around, Sesshomaru noticed that others were figuring out what was happening and frightened murmurs were filling the cabin.

Slowly Sesshomaru unbuckled his seatbelt. He stood up and stepped out into the aisle. The other passengers stared at him, afraid that he was another hijacker.

"You all can do what you like," he said, his deep voice ringing out so that the rest of the cabin could hear him. "But I can tell you what I'm doing, and that's not letting a bunch of maniacs keep me from getting home. I'm going to stop these guys before they can kill me!"

A man across the cabin stood up. "I'm with you. I'm not going down without a fight!" Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the plane and more people stood up.

"Well, then," Sesshomaru said as the plane quieted. "Let's take back this plane!"

He and some others sprinted up to the cockpit. He kicked the door down and stormed into the small room. On a quick glance, he noticed that both pilots were dead and that there were two, clearly unlicensed men flying the plane. He charged and attacked one of the men. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another man fighting the other "pilot".

Sesshomaru smashed his fist into the hijacker's face, successfully knocking him out. He sat in the chair and faced the controls. Another, this time a woman, sat in the other chair while a few others restrained the hijackers.

"Do you think we can get this thing to land?" the woman asked him, her red eyes glinting with pride and success.

Sesshomaru glanced at the gauges. "Maybe, but it has to be soon. Our fuel is low and the plane's going to overheat soon." He grabbed the wheel and jerked the plane to the left, pulling it towards Pennsylvania rather than eastern Virginia.

The woman took charge of her controls and navigated. She gave him directions on how to land and he followed them. At least until the engines began to die.

There were two things on his mind as the plane descended. One was his daughter, Rin. The other was that he was grateful that the only thing they were headed for was a field. At least they wouldn't do too much damage when they finally hit.

"Thank you." He glanced over at the woman next to him.

"For what?"

"For being brave enough to stand up and fight back. So thank you…"

"Sesshomaru."

"Kagura."

Sesshomaru barely had time to grab Kagura's hand before the plane struck the earth.

~xXx~

Kaede flicked the TV off. She had seen enough. She didn't want to see anymore death and pain.

The old woman stood up and walked to her room. She opened one of the old drawers of her dresser and pulled out her old rosary. She walked back to the living room and knelt on the floor. There, she prayed.

She prayed for those in general who had lost loved ones or were losing loved ones as she prayed. Then she became more specific. She prayed for her granddaughters; Kikyo, who worked at the Pentagon, and Kagome, who lived in Manhatten with her husband. She prayed for her grandson-in-law and his brother, who both worked at the Twin Towers. She prayed for the children, for the rest of their family.

Once she was done, Kaede rose from the floor and went and grabbed her purse. She walked out to her car and drove to downtown Modesto. She arrived at the church and walked in and joined the others who were praying, who were scared.

~xXx~

Naraku sat behind his desk, his head in his hands. He had rushed to the company break room after his secretary told him that he needed to see what was on the news. He had watched the two planes crash into the WTC and had seen footage from the Pentagon of the aftermath of the crash there. Something like this just shouldn't be possible. And now the president was saying that the crashes were terrorist attacks. None of this should be, could be, happening, but it was.

Part of the CEO was terrified that the next plane could strike his building in Atlanta. The rest of him was grateful that he hadn't decided to go on the trip to New York and was alive and well. He knew it was selfish to think that way, but he couldn't help it. Who could at a time like this? Right, the people who had friends and loved ones on those planes and in those buildings.

Suddenly, things became clear to him. Those people had people they cared about dying, if not already dead. He, on the other hand, had one family member that he didn't even talk to because of a stupid fight years ago.

Naraku grabbed his phone and dialed the number that he hadn't dialed in three years. While he listened to the ringing, he chuckled darkly to himself. Funny how it took a tragedy to make you realize what was important in life.

His brother answered the phone. Naraku sighed when he heard his voice. He began furiously apologizing and telling Onigumo just how much he missed him. Onigumo was telling his twin the same things.

~xXx~

Inuyasha had just cleared the smoke on the stairs when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He barely glanced at the number before answering, never breaking his run down the stairs.

"Kagome!"

"Oh Inuyasha, thank God!" his wife sobbed over the line. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, for now. The stairwell is becoming really clogged and I just came through where the crash site was."

"Just get out of there safely, please. We need you." Her voice was barely a whisper, but he could still hear it. He knew that "we" didn't just mean her and their son, Shippo; it meant his brother, Sesshomaru, and Sesshomaru's daughter, Rin, too.

"I know, I will."

"Did you see the other one?"

"No, but the impact shook the building. I heard one hit the Pentagon too. Is Kikyo-"

"She's fine, she managed to get through to me while I was trying to call you."

"I'm glad," he said. He tried to keep the fear out of his voice, but it was beginning to become hard. Then, he felt the building shake again, even more than when the plane hit. Screams suddenly began from above him.

Inuyasha glanced up and his eyes widened in fear. Debris was falling from above along with pieces of ceiling and stairs. The building was collapsing! He began to run faster and shove against the people in front of him, but he knew that he wouldn't make it.

"Inuyasha, what's going on?" Kagome asked, her fear and worry plain in her voice. She could probably hear the screams.

"It's nothing, promise." Inuyasha paused for a moment before speaking again. "I love you, Kagome."

"I love you t-" Her voice was cut off, for at that moment, the falling building caught up with Inuyasha and the others running on the stairs.

~xXx~

Miroku stared at the piles of rubble that used to be the Twin Towers and was now Ground Zero. He was one of the first firemen able to get to the scene after the second tower collapsed. Right before hand, though, Kagome had called him in tears. She had been talking to Inuyasha right before the first tower collapsed, then she had lost the call when it finally fell.

He felt her pain. Even though he was working to save lives, to be able to offer condolences to those who had already lost those they loved, he was afraid of what he would find. He didn't want to be the one who found Sango; he was terrified that she had been on one of those planes and was gone. She hadn't called him after all commercial planes had been ordered to land. But he couldn't think about that. Or about finding Inuyasha or Sesshomaru's lifeless bodies.

Shaking his haunting thoughts away, Miroku began digging through the debris and rubble, calling out for anyone still alive. Eventually it became too much and he went back to the truck to help work the hose.

He felt his stomach fall when he heard someone call his name sympathetically. He knew what that meant. He had to help identify a body, or they already knew who it was. He knew that he was about to find out that he was amongst those who had lost someone they cared about. And he knew that Kagome would be amongst them too.

~xXx~

Kagome stood with Miroku and Kikyo by the three freshly filled graves, Shippo hanging from her neck and Rin clinging to her leg.

One week, that was it. One week since Kagome had watched that plane strike the building, one week since Kikyo had barely escaped the jaws of death, one week since she had heard Inuyasha's voice, one week since Miroku had found the first one of their bodies.

Kagome glanced over at Miroku. At least she had been able to talk to Inuyasha. Miroku hadn't had that chance. He wasn't given the opportunity to talk to Sango. Kagome's heart ached for him.

And Rin. Poor Rin hadn't even seen Sesshomaru in two weeks. At least she knew now that he had been so courageous. At least she would be able to say that her father was the bravest man she ever knew.

She focused her attention back on the headstones. Different dates of birth, same death date. It wasn't right. Kagome had to swallow back her tears, she had to be strong for Shippo and Rin.

Kikyo tapped her sister's arm and offered to take the children back to the car. Kagome nodded and handed Shippo to his aunt and Rin went and took Kikyo's hand. Kagome fell to the ground, her tears falling in full force. She reached out and touched Inuyasha's headstone. Her fingers traced his name and the epitaph.

Glancing to her left, she saw Sesshomaru's marker. To her right, a couple of plots over near her parents, was Sango's grave. Miroku and Kagome had bought the two plots in between Inuyasha and Sango for themselves when they died.

Kagome glanced at Miroku, who was kneeling in front of Sango's grave. He looked like she felt, that life had no meaning. She went over and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back. They sat unmoving for several minutes before they rose and went back to the car.

~xXx~

_10 Years Later_

"Can you believe it? Our little boy will be graduating in a few months. I think he'll be the valedictorian, but we both know that I'm biased.

"Rin's a junior in college now. I'm so proud of her and I know that both of you are too. To think both the little kids I knew and loved have grown up so fast. I can't believe it.

"We miss you three. You were our shining light. But we're all doing better now. It's taken a long time, but I think we've finally healed."

"Kagome!"

Kagome glanced up to see Miroku walking towards her. She stood up and brushed the dirt off of her pants. "Hey!"

"How did I know that you would be here?" Miroku asked as he draped his arm around her shoulders. Kagome shrugged and leaned into his side. "You tell them?"

"No, I almost forgot! You want to do the honors?" She looked up expectantly at him. He chuckled and nodded.

"Well, Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, Sango. As you know Kagome and I have been seeing quite a bit of each other recently. Well, I am very happy to announce that she will become my wife next summer."

"Don't get jealous, Inuyasha. You were and will always be my first true love. But with the two of us helping each other heal, we fell in love."

"I say the same thing to you Sango. We talked for a long time before making this decision, and we felt that this was what you would want for us."

At the same time, Kagome and Miroku said, "We love you!" Then, the couple turned and walked out of the cemetery and back into the world.

_In remembrance of the victims of 9/11 and their families. You are forever in our hearts, never forgotten. I thank the fireman, rescue workers, and police officers who responded to the attacks. Many more lives would have been lost if you hadn't been there._


End file.
